Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo tried as best as he could to help defend his beat-up cornerback after Patrick Robinson had all sorts of trouble defending Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant, who caught two 58-yard touchdown catches in last week's 34-31 loss to the Saints in Dallas.

"We gave him a tough chore, covering No. 88 (Bryant last Sunday)," Spagnuolo said. "I should have helped him more with some calls, rolling over there a little bit more. We did a little more of that in the second half. I was trying to mix it up early to give Tony Romo some different looks and I left Patrick out there on his own and that's a tough duty against a really good football player. I don't want people to think that Patrick let anybody down. I thought, overall, he did a really good job. There are two key third-and-3 downs where he made plays. In the overtime, they go right to their guy and Patrick makes a play."

Robinson's primary assignment each week has been to defend the opponent's top receiving threat. So it's highly likely Robinson will match up with the Panthers' Steve Smith, who historically has found plenty of success against the Saints. So Robinson can go out on a high note if he can shake off last week's tough outing.

CAM NEWTON

Despite Newton's run-in with an official last week, the Panthers have won three consecutive games and four of their last five as Newton has seemingly broken out of his mid-season funk. Newton has thrown 10 touchdown passes compared to only one interception in the last five games, as well as four rushing scores during that span.

"When he's in the gun, he can fake a ball, run out on the perimeter and they can throw it back to him," interim coach Joe Vitt said. "There's a lot of things that they do that you see just twice a year. The naked off the zone read, option off the zone read and then they're going to come with an unbalanced package, an attack all over package and the pistol package. It's challenging. You spend extra time. Your players have to look at extra film. It's a challenge. They run the offense through Cam Newton. He has world-class athleticism. He can beat you with his legs quicker than anything, but he's got a strong arm and can find the open receiver. He's a tall guy that can see the field and has great vision."

Vitt was serving the second game of his six-game suspension thanks to the Saints bounty program and missed the last time Newton faced the Saints. It wasn't pretty for the defense as the Panthers scored the most points they have all season in Carolina's 35-27 win in Week 2. Newton racked up his highest completion percentage (70 percent) and quarterback rating (129.2), along with his third-best rushing output (70 yards, one TD).

The former Bucs nickel cornerback has found a nice niche with the Saints during the second half of the season after being on and off the roster much of the first half. Mack has filled in at nickel cornerback for Corey White, and could start in place of the concussed Jabari Greer on Sunday against Carolina. Mack's most memorable play occurred against the New York Giants as his 73-yard interception return for a touchdown gave the Saints their only lead of that game.

"I think he's really defined himself as real good slot corner for us in the nickel," Vitt said. "He plays with good anticipation, he has good twitch on the ball. And so I think his growth has been real good this year."

GAME PLAN

This strategy could be the "wash, rinse, repeat" game plan of the season: keep Drew Brees clean. Brees eluded all of the Cowboys' pass rushers last week in the Saints' win in Dallas. As a result, Brees threw for 446 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions while completing nearly 70 percent of his passes.

In another rather obvious game plan note, the Saints need to try to contain Newton. He leads the Panthers in passing yards and rushing yards despite two high-priced running backs - DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart - in the backfield. The Saints have had little success against dual-threat quarterbacks as New Orleans has only beaten Michael Vick with losses to Newton, Robert Griffin III and Colin Kaepernick this season.

KEY MATCHUP

SAINTS TACKLES VS. PANTHERS DEFENSIVE ENDS

The pressure from the Panthers certainly hindered Brees in Week 2, in particular when Brees threw a pick-six with a defend hanging on him early in the game. Carolina possesses one of the better pass-rushing pairs in the NFL as defensive ends Greg Hardy and Charles Johnson each have double-digit sack totals. Hardy hasn't practiced all week because of a family issue, but Rivera said Hardy will play Sunday. With Johnson already a known pass rusher and Hardy having his best season, tackles Jermon Bushrod and Zach Strief will have to be on high alert facing the Panthers' duo.

"I haven't thought about Super Bowl week a whole lot. Again, it's what we all hope for. It's what we all wanted, more than anything. There is that period of time at the end of every season where you go through that couple of weeks, my wife calls it the re-introductory phase into society, where you leave the routine and just everything that the season is and you're realizing that the season is over and that kind of thing. Then you're somewhat over it after three weeks or so and then all of a sudden the Super Bowl is going to be here and you're going to be like 'we should be here, we should be practicing right now, we should be getting ready to go win this thing.' It's always disappointing, regardless of where it is but especially when it's in your hometown." - Drew Brees on if it will be strange for him when the Super Bowl comes to New Orleans